Help:Classic editor

This feature is not being brought to the new Unified Community Platform (UCP).See Help:UCP for more information on the new platform.

The classic rich-text editor is an optional editing interface that serves as an alternative to the VisualEditor experience or the source editor. It can be selected in preferences, under the "Editing" tab, after opening the "Preferred editor" dropdown and selecting "Classic rich-text editor".

If you only edit in source mode and do not wish to use visual mode, it may be better to simply enable "source editor" as the preferred editor in Preferences, which removes Visual Mode. To switch to source mode completely, visit the "Editing" tab in your preferences, open the "Preferred editor" dropdown, then select "Source editor". This mode may be preferred for editors who edit complex templates frequently.

Editing tools

The classic editor layout

Edit Area

This is the main content area where you can add text, media, and make adjustments to the layout of the page.

Toolbar

The toolbar allows you to format text, using different font sizes and styles. You can expand and condense the toolbar to view more or less tools.

Feature Modules

The right pane includes modules that allow you to add features and media, such as photos, slideshow, videos, and tables. You can also access templates to use on the page and add categories. The preview and publish buttons are found at the top of this area.

Formatting Options

Headers

The editor's format menu

To create a header, highlight the text you wish to modify, and click on the button. You will see the dropdown menu shown on the right, and can choose the appropriate size header.

Lists

If you would like to create a list, you can use either use bullets or numbers with the buttons on the toolbar:

Numbers: Click on the numbers button , and a 1. will appear. Add your text for the first list item. When you hit enter, the subsequent number will appear. Hit enter twice to exit the number format. A numbered list will look like this:

First item

Second item

Third item

Bullets: Click on the bullets button , and a blue bullet will appear. As with numbered lists, enter your text and hit enter to create the next bullet. Hit enter twice to exit the bullet format. A bullet list will look like this:

First item

Second item

Third item

Indenting and Aligning

To indent text, highlight it and use the indent button to move it to the left or right.

You can align text to the left, right, or center, using the justify buttons.

Quick tips

To see how your page will appear once it's published, click on one of the preview buttons (Mobile or Desktop) - this will pop up a box containing a preview of how the page will appear on that device type. The preview will also let you switch between types using a dropdown at the top of the box.

If you like your preview, hit publish and your edits will be pushed live.

If you don't like your preview, you can keep editing until it appears as you would like it to.

To let others know what you changed, fill in a summary above the publish button.

Notes

Due to some issues with Internet Explorer 11, the classic editor's visual mode is not currently available when using this browser.